The present invention relates to a compartmentalized holding device for retaining and ejecting objects approximating the size and shape of cards, e.g., credit cards, identification cards and business cards.
People typically carry many different types of objects with them in their daily lives. Such objects can include such items necessary in the modern world as identification cards, credit cards, business cards and various other flat objects which can be the same size as a typical business card or credit card. These credit cards and other objects are typically used by people throughout the world and have become necessary for people to use in order to go about their daily lives. Problems are associated with carrying a variety of different types of cards at a single time. People typically must carry eight to ten cards, e.g., credit card(s), bank card(s), identification card, security card, driver license, business card(s), electronic security card and other cards similar in size and that can be used on a common basis.
The cards are typically held in either a billfold or a wallet. However, a problem encountered when carrying the cards in billfolds or wallets is accommodating the cards plus additional items, such as paper money, change, spare keys, etc. The wallet or billfold can become very thick and bulky to use and/or be very disorganized and inconvenient to use.
Another problem with using typical wallets is that they are generally designed to carry only, at most, a few and not the 8 or 10 which are now required. The wallets, therefore, become very disorganized since the user overfills the wallet to hold as many cards as possible. This overfilling creates a wallet condition which is impractical since it is very difficult to find the appropriate item in a xe2x80x9cmessy,xe2x80x9d) xe2x80x9coverstuffedxe2x80x9d wallet!
Another disadvantage to the disorganized wallet condition is the exposure of the user to potential thieves since the user is in a state of confusion while looking for various items in his or her wallet.
There have been several designs for improved card carrying devices which have attempted to improve the design of a typical wallet to carry cards in a more organized fashion. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,852,727 and 4,697,698 disclose card carrying devices having slidable draws housed inside an outer housing. The draws are actuated by the use of a button attached to the draws. The draws slidably move within the housing to present the card for the user to remove from the draw. However, one problem with the both of these designs is that when the card is presented with the draw outside the housing it is possible to easily damage the draw since it is very thin in nature and can be easily damaged by, for example, taking the card sloppily out of the slot.
It is, therefore, desirable to create a compartmentalized holding device for addressing these shortcomings and disadvantages associated with the devices of the prior art.
The present invention is a personal object holding device having an outer housing device having several separating walls inside the housing to form card holding chambers. The card holding chambers are preferably sized to accommodate objects which are the approximate size of a credit card. Other objects which are similarly sized to credit cards, such as identification cards, drivers license, bank cards, business cards, etc., can also be placed in the card holding chambers. Preferably, there is at least one biasing member positioned on one of the separating walls for each of the chambers. The biasing members need to create a biasing tension against the object positioned in the chamber so that the object is firmly held in place. The personal object holding device further includes an ejection mechanism positioned within the housing which is used to urge the object positioned in the chamber out of the chamber when desired.
In a preferred embodiment, the ejection mechanism has at least one push plate slidably positioned in each chamber. The push plate is positioned so that it is substantially coplanar with the object or card positioned within the chamber. The ejection mechanism can also have a push element which slidably moves within the housing and extends from the top surface of the housing to the bottom surface of the housing. The push element slides within a groove within the housing so that when the push element is slidably moved it contacts the push plate which in turn then pushes the object out of the chamber. In the preferred embodiment, the push element can have an actuation button attached to the push element on the exterior of the housing so that the user can easily locate the push element. Preferably, the push element is a rod shaped member. The push rod is positioned so that only one push rod corresponds to a specific push plate for a particular chamber. Therefore, actuating one push rod will only actuate a specific push plate to eject only one card.
The biasing member in a preferred embodiment can be a resilient piece of metal which is attached to the one of the separating walls of a chamber and extends toward an opposite wall of the chamber. Thus, when a card is placed within a chamber it is held against the opposite wall by the biasing member. The biasing member can also be integrally formed as part of a separating wall. It is envisioned that the biasing member can be integrally molded as part of the separating wall when used in a separating wall which can be formed by injection molding or casting.
In a preferred embodiment, the card holding device can have several chambers positioned above one another. Each chamber is positioned above one another with a corresponding push plate for each chamber and a separate push rod which corresponds to a particular push plate for each chamber. The push plates can include a series of notches which are used to selectively limit the movement of the push plate to a particular push rod. Preferably, each push plate will have several notches along its outer perimeter so that if a push rod for a different chamber is actuated, the push rod will occupy a notch in the push plate and will not move the push plate for the chamber which is not being used.
As a result of the present invention, it is an advantage to have a object holding device which selectively holds various objects approximating the size of cards.
It is an advantage of the present invention to provide a convenient object holding device which organizes various objects for a user in a convenient wallet like structure.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide an object holding device where the object can be selectively individually removable when needed by the user.
It is a still further advantage of the present invention to create a modular design which can be easily manufactured create multiple card holding chambers depending upon the users needs.
For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further advantages, reference is made to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and the scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.